Murder abroad
by jacarandadm
Summary: ~Thanks for your reviews!!!~ Mark and Jesse go on a trip to the other side of the ocean. But who had thought that both would have a quiet week abroad? ~~~COMPLETE~~~


Please review!!!  
  
  
  
Disclaimer: All characters who have appeared in the series Diagnosis Murder, together with the names, titles and the original back story are the sole copyright property of CBS and Viacom. This fanfiction is not intended as an infringement upon those rights and solely meant for entertainment. No profit is being made or intended to be made by this story. All other characters, the story idea and the story itself are the sole property of the author.  
  
~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~  
  
  
  
Murder abroad  
  
  
  
„I am absurdly fearful about this voyage. Various little omens have combined to give me a dark feeling...." (Margaret Fuller (1810–1850), U.S. author, literary critic, journalist.)  
  
@--- @--- @--- @--- @--- @--- @--- @---@---@---@---@---@---  
  
  
  
Prologue  
  
This had been number 3. Only two problems had to be solved. She was doing a rather good job, she thought as she put the rope in the plastic bag which she stowed away in her rucksack. This girl hadn't had any chance. She was stronger. She wanted this man, whatever it would cost. As if nothing had happened she left the lecture hall unnoticed.  
  
  
  
Chapter 1  
  
"Guten tak! …danke… das vetter ist ser shon… ik habe keinen durst…"  
  
(It's not the real orthography, it's only a way to show how it is spoken by an English speaking person with a very thick accent. The meanings are "Good afternoon!… thanks… the weather is fine… I'm not thirsty…" Try to imagine how a German person who is not good in English might pronounce those words, perhaps as „Gud afternoon!... sanks... se veser is fine... I'm not sirsty..." :-) )  
  
Amanda heard Jesse's voice when she entered the doctors' lounge. With the headphones on his ears and his eyes shut he couldn't hear nor see who had come into the room. Amanda looked at him in amusement, went to the coffee machine and poured herself a cup of the black liquid. Then she sat next to him on the sofa. He looked up at once, blushed, took off the headphones and asked carefully: "How long have you been listening?"  
  
"Don't worry, Jesse, it's been only half a minute, not more. What were you mumbling?"  
  
Jesse blushed even more. "It's my way of preparing for the voyage abroad. I bought this a week ago", he held up a very colourful book 'German for Beginners in 12 units'. And I've got some tourist guides. Here, have a look!" He took a large pile of books out of a bag.  
  
Amanda didn't look as surprised as she usually did when she saw the pile.  
  
"Jesse, don't you think you are exaggerating a bit?"  
  
He darted her a panicked look. "I don't think so. I fear I won't understand anything there. The language is incomprehensible, the food is undefinable, even the weather is unpredictable over there."  
  
"It won't be so bad, I'm sure", Amanda tried to calm down the young doctor with her motherly tone.  
  
"You can talk! You're going to have nice long walks on the beach…"  
  
"…if I ever get there after work!"  
  
Jesse ignored her remark. "…talking to people you understand…"  
  
He was interrupted by Steve coming into the room. Jesse stood up at once. "Hey Steve. What are you doing here?" he asked.  
  
"You haven't seen my Dad, have you?" Steve asked as he looked around the room.  
  
"Not since he has left the hospital. He said he wanted to go home because of the packing. Isn't he there?" Amanda told Steve who shrugged nervously.  
  
"No, he isn't. He wanted to meet me here about half an hour ago. And he doesn't answer his cell phone. Perhaps…"  
  
"Sorry to let you wait", was heard at the door. The three turned to the direction where the voice had come from.  
  
"Dad, where have you been?" Steve asked Mark both angrily and worried.  
  
"Oh, I had to help Mrs. Delaney to find her green hair slide," Mark told his listeners, quite amused about his son's anger. "At last we found it in the canteen."  
  
Jesse who had also understood his friend's feeling, cleared his throat.  
  
"I must go get the luggage from home." He turned to Mark. "I'll be at the beach house in two hours."  
  
Amanda waved at him. "Have a nice trip!"  
  
"Oh yeah…"  
  
  
  
Chapter 2  
  
„Germans are tall, pert and orthodontically corrected, with hands, teeth and hair as clean as their clothes and clothes as sharp as their looks." (P.J. O'Rourke (b. 1947), U.S. journalist)  
  
@--- @--- @--- @--- @--- @--- @--- @---@---@---@---@---@---  
  
Mark had been invited by an old friend of college times. This friend, Dr. Albert Simon, was a professor at the University of Hamburg and he gave lectures about emergency surgery, so Mark thought this could be interesting for Jesse as well. Jesse agreed only because he had read many articles written by Dr. Simon and appreciated him. It would be a great thing for him to meet that doctor.  
  
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~  
  
Their plane took off at nine a.m. from L.A. Finally, after having set their watches, they arrived at 7 a.m. the next day in Munich where they had to change planes. The landing at the airport in Fuhlsbüttel an hour later was quite normal if you didn't mention the fog on the runway. It was a day like every day in November.  
  
Mark and Jesse went across the gangway, looked for where to get their luggage, fetched it and were on the point of going outside to get a taxi, when somebody ran towards them, screaming and waving, "Hey Mark. It's me, Al!" Mark began to smile and stopped. Jesse who was following him with his bags nearly crashed into him. "Sorry, I'm late. I had to rescue our neighbour's cat from our roof. I don't know why she always climbs up there and has never been able to come down. I hope you had a good flight."  
  
Mark laughed and said, "Oh yes, we had." They hugged each other. Then Mark made a step aside so that Dr. Simons could see Jesse who was looking him up and down. "And this is Dr. Jesse Travis, a very good doctor in the ER." Jesse smiled broadly as they shook hands.  
  
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~  
  
On the way to the hotel where Mark and Jesse stayed the next week, Al and Mark talked about the year Al had been to America. Jesse wasn't listening. He looked out of the window and wondered why he hadn't refused to come with Mark to Germany. He had a feeling that this week would be more interesting than he had thought.  
  
@--- @--- @--- @--- @--- @--- @--- @---@---@---@---@---@---  
  
In the evening, at Dr. Simon's, the German doctor showed the two American doctors around his house.  
  
"Very comfortable", Mark told Albert.  
  
"Getting this house was pure luck. Five years ago, after my divorce, I wasn't in the mood to buy such a large house. But then I came here, I saw this one and I bought it. I've never regretted."  
  
"Just the same with Mark's beach house", Jesse remarked. Al looked at Mark in surprise.  
  
"You live at the beach?"  
  
"It was just like you. At first I thought it would be too big, but then my son Steve…"  
  
"The policeman?"  
  
"Homicide Detective…well, he moved in, too, and now, I have to admit it was a good investment."  
  
"Your son moved in of his own free will? That's wonderful. If I could say that about my daughter Melinda. She can't wait to earn the money and rent a flat", Al said sadly. "Um… I should have a look at the roast."  
  
"He's one of the best cooks I know", Mark told Jesse.  
  
"Thanks, Mark. But it's very difficult to be a doctor and a cook, every woman ran away because either I was never at home or I did what she liked to do, -"  
  
"- Cooking", Mark laughed. Jesse smiled slightly.  
  
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~  
  
While they ate the dessert, the doorbell rang and Dr. Simons went to open it. Jesse and Mark could hear him talking in the hall and a female voice was answering.  
  
He: "Wo bist du den ganzen Tag lang gewesen? Ich hab mir schon Sorgen gemacht!"  
  
She: "Ich war in der Stabi, musste ein paar Bücher für ein Referat finden. Wieso interessiert dich das?"  
  
He: "Du hast es noch nicht gehört? Da ist schon wieder eine junge Frau ermordet worden. Erstochen, auf der Toilette im PI."  
  
She: "Ach ja, das. Ich hab's in der Mensa gehört. Na und?"  
  
He: "Na und? In der Uni geht ein Frauenmörder um und du sagst bloß 'na und'??? Ich wünschte, du würdest die nächste Zeit zu Hause bleiben, bis die Polizei den Täter geschnappt hat."  
  
She: "Ich werde auf gar keinen Fall zu Hause bleiben, nicht hier bei dir!"  
  
He: "Bitte rede etwas leiser, wir haben Gäste. Okay wir reden nachher darüber."  
  
She: "Ja ja."  
  
He: "Nicht in dem Ton, mein liebes Fräulein! So, und nun geh ins Esszimmer und sag den Gästen Guten Tag!"  
  
She: "Diesen Herrn Doktoren aus *Amerika*?"  
  
He: "Reiß dich bitte zusammen! Und jetzt geh!"  
  
(The German phrases aren't important to understand the story and I wanted to make the reader know how Mark and Jesse experience a foreign country with its foreign language. Nevertheless I'll translate the German phrases so that you don't think there are some hidden messages in it.  
  
He: "Where have you been all day long? I've been worried!"  
  
She: "I've been in the library, had to find some books for a seminar paper. Why do you want to know that?"  
  
He: "Haven't you heard? Another woman has been murdered. Stabbed, in the restroom of the institute of pedagogics."  
  
She: "Oh, yes, that. I've heard about it in the canteen. So what?"  
  
He: "So what? There is someone walking around the campus who kills women and you simply say 'so what'??? I wished, you'd stay at home the next few days, until the police has arrested the murderer."  
  
She: "There's no way that I stay at home, not with you!"  
  
He: "Not so loud, please, we've company. Okay, let's talk about that later."  
  
She: "Yeah, sure."  
  
He: "Don't take that tone to me, my dear! Well, go to the dining room now and say Hello to our guests!"  
  
She: "Those doctors from *America*?"  
  
He:"Pull yourself together! Go now!")  
  
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~  
  
Al came back with a young girl with long brown hair and whose eyes resembled Al's ones.  
  
"May I introduce you to my daughter Melinda? Melinda, those are the doctors Mark Sloan and Jesse Travis from the Community General Hospital in LA."  
  
Melinda put on the best smile she could do now. "Pleased to meet you, Dr. Sloan. Dr. Travis." They shook hands. "My Dad has told me much about you."  
  
"Pleased to meet you, too, Melinda", said Mark friendly.  
  
"Sorry I can't stay any longer, but I have to prepare for my seminars tomorrow. Bye." Without waiting for an answer nor her father's objection she rushed out of the room.  
  
"She never has time", Al sighed.  
  
"Children grow up too fast!" Mark smiled.  
  
"Oh, it's not that, it's…" Al paused.  
  
"What?"  
  
"It's nothing." Al looked down on the floor searching for something that only he could see.  
  
"Perhaps it'll help if you tell us."  
  
Al took a deep breath, then said, "There's a murderer running around the campus. His victims are young women, today was his forth one, and I'm just a little worried about Melinda but that doesn't bother her."  
  
"What does the police know about the assassin?"  
  
"Nothing special, only that it might be a woman because they found some nail gloss at one scene of crime which had a different colour than the victim's nail gloss."  
  
"And when and where were they murdered?"  
  
"The first woman ate poisoned bread in a seminar room in the institute of biology, that was about two weeks ago. The next day another woman was found hanging in the basement of the institute of physics. The third followed a week later, it was in the Audimax, she was strangled. And today, her last victim was found in the lavatory, stabbed to death."  
  
"The police haven't found any connection, have they?"  
  
"I'm afraid no. The four women haven't been in the same seminar nor in the same lecture, they don't even study the same. I'm afraid that my daughter could be the next victim."  
  
"Don't worry, Al. Jesse, could you do me a favour?"  
  
"Anything you want." Jesse smiled, surely he had to look around the scenes of crime searching for hints.  
  
"Could you try to do some investigations while you're at university? As you are the youngest of us three, you could get some more information of the students there."  
  
Jesse's smile faded at once. "What?!?" After a second, "Am I right if I think that you think I should go there as a student?"  
  
"Let's say you accompany Melinda around the campus and ask a lot about what is going on."  
  
The pleading look on Mark's face made Jesse give in. "Okay, I'll do it…but what about Melinda?"  
  
"Leave that to me, Jesse!" Al said.  
  
  
  
Chapter 3  
  
"…quod erat demonstrandum. And now, for the last five minutes I'd like to give you an example so that you can see how this theorem works: we take the set M and as a connection +. Now we can say that…"  
  
(There's really a lecture about analysis in English at the University of Hamburg. You don't have to go there, but it's a good supplementation to the analysis lecture in German by the same professor. By the way „quod erat demonstrandum" is a Latin phrase which means „what was to be shown" and is normally written after having proved a theorem.)  
  
Melinda was scribbling down everything that the professor wrote on the blackboard. That would be much to learn at the weekend. But as she had nothing else to do, it didn't matter. Next to her, Ann-Katrin was looking panicked as she wrote. "That's all for today. Thank you for listening." The students knocked on the tables in front of them, then got up. Ann-Katrin and Melinda went to the door of the lecture hall in the Geomatikum. Jesse followed them.  
  
"Well, I haven't understood anything today. Could we meet at yours at the weekend for learning and doing the maths exercises? Please!" Ann-Katrin pleaded outside the lecture hall.  
  
"Yes… though on Saturday, I've got to do baby-sit my niece, my sister and Max want to do some shopping for her birthday the week after next. So, what about Sunday?"  
  
"Oh, I've got a handball match on Sunday afternoon, it starts at 2 p.m."  
  
"So, Sunday morning?" Melinda suggested.  
  
"When?"  
  
"At 10 a.m.?"  
  
"You know I can't get up earlier than 11", moaned Ann-Katrin.  
  
"Then we would have three hours without lunch and everything else. I don't think that would be enough time for the exercises."  
  
"Okay, 10.30?" Ann-Katrin sighed.  
  
"Well, … yes." Melinda said shrugging.  
  
"You're going home now?"  
  
"No, I have to hurry for American literature. I haven't managed yet during the last four weeks to get there in time. See ya on Sunday!"  
  
"Bye!" Ann-Katrin turned around and went.  
  
"You've got a sister?" Jesse asked in surprise.  
  
"Yes", Melinda answered shortly looking in another direction. It had been annoying that he had been talking all the way to the Geomatikum. She hadn't listened but that didn't seem to bother him. Only in the Analysis lecture he had been quiet. Her father had had the craziest idea she had ever heard of: he really thought, she needed a bodyguard. As if this little guy could keep the murderer away from her. Oh yes, perhaps he'd die from laughing at him! She had to find a way to get rid of him.  
  
"Do you know where the restrooms are?"  
  
"Downstairs, on the right." It was easier than she had imagined.  
  
@--- @--- @--- @--- @--- @--- @--- @---@---@---@---@---@---  
  
The University of Hamburg was founded in 1919 by the Mayor of Hamburg, Edmund Siemers. It is one of altogether six colleges of Hamburg. Its institutes are spread across the whole city: the main building near the Dammtor station, not far away from the Congress Center, and most of the institutes around Von-Melle-Park in a circle of one kilometre. To the university belongs the university clinic in Eppendorf, but also the observatory in Bergedorf.  
  
If you walk from the station to the Audimax at Von-Melle-Park and take the way behind the main building, you can see very nice villas on the right, the villas of the Grindelviertel, which was formerly known as the quarter where Jewish merchants lived before the Second World War. Once there had been a synagogue, too, which was destroyed then. At its place there is the institute of biology, opposite the Abaton cinema.  
  
@--- @--- @--- @--- @--- @--- @--- @---@---@---@---@---@---  
  
Melinda rushed out of the Geomatikum, turned right past the institute of pharmacology, turned left and went across the street, and then walked across Martin-Luther-King-Platz, on her left the museum of zoology and on the right the institute of chemistry, then across another street. At the Abaton cinema she turned right and stood in front of a small lake where you could sit around on the grass on warmer and dry days. Melinda walked left of the lake, past the institute of education on her left and the Audimax on her right. She looked at her watch. She had managed to get there in a quarter of an hour for the first time. She looked up the Philturm. Tower of Philosophy, she smiled, whoever had named this building like that must have known that there weren't only philosophy lectures in there, but since this building stood, there had been always some crazy people who had jumped from the highest level. If she had been them, she would have jumped from the Geomatikum: it has balconies and some more levels.  
  
She entered the Philturm and went to the elevators. She hated these elevators, they never came when she needed them, but seven levels were too much to walk upstairs. Downstairs was something different.  
  
In front of room 754, there was already a small group waiting for the professor. She knew the faces from the last weeks. Some minutes later another guy stepped breathless behind her. Must have taken the stairs. Crazy! She turned around – there stood Jesse. He looked rather furious.  
  
"Okay, maybe you don't like my company. But I don't like being here either. It was your father's idea, he's worried about you. I'd be worried, too, if someone wants to kill me." he said with a glaring look on his face, frowning.  
  
"I'm not worried. My dad is simply a bit overprotective. If you don't want to stay, then go. I don't mind." She looked away.  
  
"As I'm here, you won't get rid of me once again. And if you try, then…" He put his hand on her shoulder in order to pull her around and make her look at him.  
  
She glanced furiously at him. "Then what? Are you going to slap my bottom?"  
  
This girl was making him crazy. "You don't know in what danger you are. You're acting like a child!"  
  
That was enough. Who did he think she was?!? "So, Mr. American-boy- with-blonde-hair-and-blue-eyes, you want to tell me I'm a child though you don't look older yourself. Tell me how can I be killed with so many people around me? Everyone would recognize the killer. I'm never alone here, unlike at home."  
  
He pointed with his index finger at her. "You, Miss Careless, you could be poisoned for example."  
  
"I can't."  
  
He raised an eyebrow. "Why not? Oh, I see, you're immune against every poison."  
  
She seemed to have ignored the last sentence. "The murderer uses different methods to kill. And as far as I know, he or she has already poisoned someone."  
  
"You've done your homework. Let me try again: there could be an explosion."  
  
"Too much noise for nothing."  
  
"I don't think that about 20 dead people were nothing."  
  
She let out a laugh. "Only to kill me? One single person? Don't you think you're exaggerating? Oh, let me think, perhaps she will hypnotise me and make me commit suicide."  
  
"As long as we know nothing about the killer except it's a woman, that would be possible."  
  
"Ach rutsch mir doch den Buckel runter!" (Not a very polite way to tell somebody to leave him alone) she said between her teeth, glaring at him as she turned around and sat on a bench standing next to the door, pretending to ignore him the rest of the day.  
  
The professor came, excused himself for being late and let the students enter the room. Jesse followed Melinda to her seat and sat down next to her. He already wondered which book they would discuss today and became very confused about what he heard next.  
  
"Ja, letzte Woche haben wir uns mit dem Problem beschäftigt, wie man mit Metaphern und Metonymien umgehen soll. Ich erinnere dabei an das Beispiel "How can we know the dancer from the dance?" Ist das eine echte Frage oder eine rhetorische? Ich könnte ebenso gut fragen: "Wie kann ich den Autor vom Buch unterscheiden?" Das ist das Thema, das uns heute interessieren wird. Sie haben ja eine Kopie der deutschen Übersetzung von "Der Tod des Autors" des Franzosen Roland Barthes." („Well, last week we had discussed the problem how to deal with metaphors and metonymies. Remember the example "How can know the dancer from the dance?" Is it a real question or a rhetoric one? I could ask as well, "How can I know the author from the book?" That's what we are discussing today. Surely you've got a copy of the German translation of "The death of the author" by the French writer Roland Barthes.") Everybody took out some sheets of paper. Jesse whispered excitedly to Melinda: "What is he doing?!?" No answer from his left side. "Oh, I forgot, you're ignoring me", he mumbled. As he didn't understand anything, he observed the people in the room. First of all, there was the professor, a small white-haired man with glasses. He couldn't stand still for a moment so he was walking to and fro in front of the blackboard, sometimes he made some notes on it which Jesse didn't understand. Then there were the students, the majority girls, only two boys. One woman was dressed totally in red. Jesse thought it looked funny because she didn't seem so young despite her make-up. Must be in her forties, he thought. On the opposite side of the room, there was a younger woman who had been watching him since his discussion with Melinda outside the room. He was sure he knew her but he didn't know from where. Every time he looked at her she smiled and then looked away. But her watching wasn't as if she was flirting with him. It was as if she looked at him suspiciously, as if she was hiding something and was thinking he might get to know what she was hiding. Suddenly it came to his mind: he had seen her once in LA.  
  
  
  
Chapter 4  
  
At 12.45 the seminar had finished. Jesse and Melinda got up from their seats and went to the door.  
  
"Would you mind if we go for lunch together? I don't know my way around here", Jesse said. Melinda was hungry and already tired because of the seminar, so she wasn't in the mood to argue at the moment. His helpless look made her even smile. Perhaps it wasn't so bad to have such a bodyguard. She nodded and led him to the elevators. As they got down, they went outside and rushed between the Audimax and some placards about demonstrations.  
  
"There are a lot of restaurants around here, but actually I prefer the canteen for it's cheap and to tell you the truth, it tastes better than it looks." She didn't smile at her joke, but Jesse did. They entered the canteen which was integrated in the so-called WiWi-Bunker, "where the students study business management and economy, the Wirtschaftswissenschaften, and often have big parties, but not as good as the pedagogic ones", Melinda explained. It was lunch time, so it was very full in there. No, you aren't going to turn around and leave, Melinda, you can handle that, there aren't too many people in here, stay quiet, everything will be fine. She took a deep breath and stepped towards the pile of trays.  
  
Jesse was already at the pasta bar. He put himself a large pile of noodles with garlic sauce on a dish, got a salad, a chocolate pudding and an orange juice, went to the desk, paid and then turned around looking for Melinda and free seats.  
  
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~  
  
Melinda gasped for breath when she stood outside the canteen. Damn, she thought. What would Jesse think of her? Surely he thought she had wanted to get rid of him. But she couldn't go in there once again. She was hungry and the smell of food penetrated into her nose. She panicked. She couldn't go anywhere, because it would be full of people there, too. But she needed something to eat, in fact now. Perhaps she should go to the cafeteria in the institute of pedagogics and buy a roll and then wait for Jesse in front of the canteen. The only problem would be, the canteen had two entrances…  
  
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~  
  
Jesse was swearing in a low voice. He should have known. Though she seemed more peaceful after the seminar. But this time he wouldn't run after her. This time he'd sit down and eat… and ring Mark. He looked for a free seat and found one near the window through which he could see the Audimax with the Philturm behind, and the institute of pedagogics. Not that he knew the names of the buildings. He didn't recognize the familiar figure walking in the direction of the institute of pedagogics. Instead he took out his cellphone and dialled Mark's number. "Mark? It's me, Jesse… No, nothing's right… you might imagine what happened, she ran away twice and now I can't find her because I know she hasn't got any lectures nor seminars this afternoon. She could have gone anywhere. Sorry, Mark… yes, um… Maybe I've found something that might help. In this seminar, the seminar about American literature, there was this girl, a Melanie Brown. I think I know her from LA. About two months ago, she had been brought to hospital after having tried to commit suicide. Her boyfriend had found her. She then disappeared after being in hospital for a week… yes, I'll wait… that's a pity… oh, okay. Bye." He sighed. Like Mark had just said, perhaps Steve found out something about Melanie Brown. He turned to his meal. Girls! He didn't want these two spoil his appetite!  
  
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~  
  
"Hi! Aren't you in the seminar for American literature?" said a female voice behind Melinda who was standing at the desk of the cafeteria in the institute of pedagogics and just wondering whether to take a cheese or a ham roll. Melinda turned round. "I'm Melanie," she said with a smile.  
  
"And I'm Melinda. You sound like an American."  
  
"Oh, can you hear it?" She smiled. "Yes, originally I'm from Seattle, Washington, but I moved to LA about three years ago."  
  
"LA? I know someone from LA. It would be funny if you knew them, too. Dr Mark Sloan and Dr Jesse Travis?"  
  
"If I knew them? Man, that's really funny. Of course, they work in Community General Hospital in LA, don't they? How do you know them?"  
  
"They are staying here in Hamburg for a week, they are friends of my father's." She decided to take the cheese roll.  
  
"They are here? That's interesting. That's very interesting," she mumbled. "Hey, do you want to come with me to the library? I'd like to look for the books Mr Heinrich talked about."  
  
"Yes, I'd also like to have a look at them. But first of all let me eat a roll. Otherwise I'm starving."  
  
Melanie smiled.  
  
  
  
Chapter 5  
  
"Steve? Hi, it's Dad!"  
  
"Hi Dad! How are you?"  
  
"I'm fine, son."  
  
"And how is Jesse?"  
  
"Not so bad, I think. He isn't here at the moment. Steve, do you know a Melanie Brown?"  
  
"No. Should I?"  
  
"Jesse thinks she has got something to do with the four murders on the campus and…"  
  
"Wait a minute, Dad. Murder? You aren't going to investigate, are you?"  
  
Mark giggled. "I am already investigating. Al worries that his daughter will in all likelihood be one of the next victims and I only want to prevent it. Jesse's at University and getting some information and has come across this Melanie Brown and…"  
  
"And you want me to look for more information. What have you got already?"  
  
"Jesse knows her from hospital. She tried to commit suicide about two months ago but her boyfriend rescued her. Then all of a sudden she disappeared…"  
  
"And turned up there at the university. Maybe I should find out something about her boyfriend."  
  
"Do that then."  
  
"Oh, and Dad?"  
  
"Yes, son?"  
  
"Don't do anything stupid over there! The same for Jesse!"  
  
"We won't. Give our regards to Amanda!"  
  
"I will. I love you, Dad."  
  
"I love you, too, Steve. Bye."  
  
"Bye."  
  
@--- @--- @--- @--- @--- @--- @--- @---@---@---@---@---@---  
  
Melinda and Melanie took the stairs to the first floor of the Philturm where the library for English literature was. They put their bags and their coats in the lockers outside the library, then entered the library and looked for the books the prof had mentioned.  
  
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~  
  
Jesse put the tray on the assembly line and began to worry. He was there to keep an eye on Melinda and she surely didn't want to. But perhaps Melanie already got her. If not, he had to find her as soon as possible. He started thinking. The only places he knew here were the Geomatikum and the Philturm. As the Geomatikum was further away it was possible that she had gone there. He had to hurry.  
  
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~  
  
Half an hour later Melinda and Melanie were still copying some chapters of the books. "Oh God, why do these copiers have to work so slowly! And look at that pile of paper. How can I read them during a weekend? I've got other lectures, too, not only American literature!" Melinda moaned.  
  
"Don't tell me! I'm as shocked as you are."  
  
Melinda looked at Melanie. "You haven't told me yet what your subjects are."  
  
"Haven't I? Oh sorry, I forgot. I study German and American philology. I'm on a year abroad here."  
  
"And how comes that you know the doctors Sloan and Travis?"  
  
"Five or six years ago I had appendicitis and Dr Sloan and Dr Travis operated me. They were very nice."  
  
"Yes, they are." She thought about how she must have disappointed Jesse. Horrified she looked at her watch. "Oops, I've forgotten to tell him where I am. He must be worried about me now."  
  
"Wait a minute, I can come with you, I want to meet him as well. And we've only got one chapter to copy. Okay?"  
  
"That's okay, I'll wait then."  
  
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~  
  
In the meantime Jesse was on his way from the Geomatikum. He hadn't seen her in the lobby, and looking through 18 floors with 50 rooms each was too much. He also had the slight feeling that she wasn't there but somewhere around the Audimax. He wanted to find out. Suddenly his cellphone rang.  
  
"Hi Jesse, Mark speaking. Steve just rang me and told me that Melanie's ex-boyfriend studies physics at the university here but the police haven't been able to find him yet. Any news about Melinda?"  
  
"Not yet, sorry, Mark." A short pause. "Mark? You there?"  
  
"Sorry, Jesse, Al just told me that Melinda might be in the library of the institute of American philology in the Philturm."  
  
"Okay, Mark, I'll try it there. Bye."  
  
"Bye, Jesse."  
  
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~  
  
The two girls left the Philturm and walked across the campus to the canteen. They entered and searched all over the canteen but nowhere was a trace of Jesse.  
  
"Never mind. Maybe he has gone home. Uh… are you in a hurry or would you mind if we go and find a free room in the Philturm and go through the copies?" suggested Melanie.  
  
"Good idea, let's go."  
  
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~  
  
Having taken the stairs, Jesse opened the door to the library and entered the room. He looked around. No Melinda anywhere. Nor this Melanie Brown. Was this a good or a bad sign? His stomach decided on the bad sign. He turned to the information desk and asked the woman sitting behind, "Have you seen a young woman with long brown hair, about my size, earlier today?"  
  
"Well… um… there weren't many people walking in and out today… um… yes, one of them was a young girl, she left about half an hour ago. She and another girl have been copying for a long while."  
  
"Another girl? What did she look like?"  
  
"A bit taller than the other girl, short dark hair, she was wearing glasses…"  
  
Jesse felt the knot in his stomach grow harder. That was Melanie.  
  
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~  
  
They nearly ran to the stairs of the Philturm, Melanie holding Melinda's arm tight.  
  
"Hey, what if there isn't a free room? I mean they are often taken by seminars at this time. Or do you know where a free room is?"  
  
"There's always a free room for us. Come on." As they hurried up the stairs, Melanie pushed the button for the fire alarm. Immediately everybody ran out of the rooms. "See?"  
  
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~  
  
"Thank you for the information." Jesse said when he suddenly heard the noise of the fire alarm. He left the library and went to the stairs. He looked up to see the mass of people running down the stairs. At that moment he saw two figures running in the opposite direction. That must be them. He decided to follow them. On his way he took out his cellphone and called Mark. "Mark? Jesse speaking. Listen, Melinda is in the Philturm and Melanie is with her… Marcus? Who's Marcus? … Oh, good news… they are on the eighth floor now, no, they are still running upstairs… wait a minute, I have to catch breath first… as far as I can see from here, they are on the tenth floor now… I'm following them now…" Watching around the edge he was now whispering. "Yes, tenth floor, room… um… 1025. See you later… alive!"  
  
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~  
  
"You're crazy!" Melinda said as Melanie dragged her into the room.  
  
Melanie laughed. "It's all over soon."  
  
Melinda had an incomprehensible look on her face. But when Melanie took a gun out of her rucksack, she understood that she was in deep danger now. She opened her mouth.  
  
"Don't scream. It won't help you. There's nobody in this building now. Everybody left because of the fire alarm."  
  
All of a sudden the door opened and coming, no, running in did Jesse. "Wait, Melanie. Marcus, your boyfriend, will be here in a minute and you can talk to him if you put that gun down and let Melinda go."  
  
"Why should I? I haven't finished my task yet. So go, leave us alone!"  
  
There was a knock at the door. "Melanie? It's me, Marcus," a deep voice said.  
  
"Marcus! Come in!" Melanie shouted.  
  
"Would you first of all let those people go, please? They haven't done anything to you."  
  
"Yes, they have. She has taken you away from me. You know, I love you, and I know, you love me, too."  
  
"Why do you think I love you?!? How can I love someone like you who harms other people?"  
  
Oh God, no, thought Jesse. this guy was making her more furious, and that would make them no good while she held the gun in her hands. Someone had to tell him to calm down.  
  
"Tell me you love me or else…"  
  
"Or else what? You don't think that if you kill people, then I'll love you, do you?"  
  
"Oh Marcus, aren't I important to you?"  
  
"How often do I have to tell you, I don't love you? I DO NOT LOVE YOU!"  
  
"You damned bastard. What I did for you… all for nothing, the suicide, the murders…" Melanie slowly put down her arms. Jesse thought it was all over now and took a step forward to her. "Stop!" she yelled and pointed her gun at him. "And now go, all of you. I have to be alone." Jesse was fearing the worst. He swallowed hard and gestured Melinda to leave the room with him.  
  
As soon as they had shut the door behind them, they heard a shot which made everybody wince. And then, everything was quiet.  
  
  
  
Chapter 6  
  
The rest of the week was not half as exciting as the first two days. Melinda had taken pleasure in Jesse accompanying her to the lectures and seminars, she now explained everything that was said. Then there was a forum that Al held in agreement with Mark and Jesse, in order to talk about the state of the medical research. Melinda took part, too, and this time it was Jesse's turn to explain her everything.  
  
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~  
  
On the day of their departure, as they were waiting at Hamburg airport, Mark invited Al and Melinda to come for a visit in LA.  
  
"I promise, Mark. You know, I'd like to go on a stay abroad next year." When she saw Jesse's searching glance, she laughed. "Don't worry, I don't have any boyfriends over there." Just before they wanted to go across the gangway, they shook each other's hands or as for Jesse and Melinda respectively, they kissed. "Here's a gift for you, Jesse," Melinda said giving him a small box. "Goodbye, Jesse."  
  
"Bye Melinda. See you next year in LA." he said with a grin.  
  
  
  
Chapter 7  
  
Remember, remember the days of November…  
  
@--- @--- @--- @--- @--- @--- @--- @---@---@---@---@---@---  
  
  
  
Their plane took off at 11 a.m. from Hamburg. They changed planes in Munich but had to wait there for three hours for their plane. Finally, after having set their watches, they arrived at 6.30 p.m. the same day in LA. The landing at the airport was quite normal if you didn't mention the darkness on the runway. It was a day like every day in November.  
  
Mark and Jesse went across the gangway, looked for where to get their luggage, fetched it and were on the point of going outside to get a taxi, when somebody ran towards them, screaming and waving, "Hey Mark. Here we are!" Mark began to smile and stopped. Jesse who was following him with his bags nearly crashed into him. "Sorry, we're late. Amanda had to brush off some crazy guy who thought she was Whitney Houston. I hope you had a good flight."  
  
"Well, yes, Steve." Mark said giggling.  
  
The three went to Steve's car in which Amanda was sitting. She got out of the car and hugged Mark. Then she turned to Jesse. "And was it really that bad?"  
  
A smile on his face as he looked at a small teddy in his hand answered her question. "Anyway, I'd like to go home. I'm tired!" Everybody laughed.  
  
  
  
T H E E N D 


End file.
